Tuesday, 29 January 2013

Besides my beloved Kat Dennings, Hayden Panettiere comes in at a close second for my girl crush of the moment. I think when she cut her hair short - like in this picture - she looked so sophisticated and, dare I say it, trendy! I had never seen her in many movies before and I've never watched Heroes but when I went to see Scream 4, I was blown away by her look. Besides the amazing haircut, her makeup and outfits always looks so good and she defiantly has a bit of the rock chick goin' on. Also, a couple of friends of mine have said that they think I look a bit like her - and that is SUCH a compliment to me! (I don't think I resemble her at all - besides the blonde!)

In this particular image, Hayden has pulled together a makeup look which is very understated yet classy. Keeping most of her makeup towards the natural and nude tones, she has emphasised her eyes with those amazing false lashes, which really makes the green of her eyes stand out.

In my usual Beauty Crush posts, I try and just list what techniques I think were used but to change things up a bit, I'm going to show you all which items from my makeup collection I would use to recreate this look. If I don't own something, I will still add what I would've used and add a link for it from the web. I will add links to the names of each product mentioned (written in bold), which will take you to a past blog post I have on it (if you want to read more about them, that is).

STEP 1

As this is an evening look, I would want to properly prep my face in order for it to be in great condition. For this I would use my trusty Clean&Clear Dual Action Moisturiserall over my face and neck, then let it sink in for a few minutes. I would also use a great primer and for that, I would have used the famous Hourglass - Veil Mineral Primer Spf15. I usually would apply both of these with my fingers but recently I had heard that the brilliant Bobbi Brown herself actually uses a foundation brush to apply skin creams etc. So that is another option.

Now onto the makeup! To start off, I have chosen my Nars Sheer Matte Foundationin Siberia which I would apply all over my face and under the jawline with my favourite foundation brush -Real Techniques Buffing Brush. This will really blend out the colour and buff it into the skin, leaving it with a medium coverage and flawless look. Hayden obviously has a darker skin tone than mine but I will add a bit of warmth later on.

Next is the concealer - I would use the fabulous Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealerin Fair and would apply this in a triangle shape under the eyes, coming down the side of the nose and back up at an angle and also under the brow bone, around the base of the nose and centre of the chin. This is what most of the Hollywood stars are now doing to their makeup as it really lifts the face and brightens. If you have a light reflecting concealer which is good coverage, then use that. I would then blend out the product with my Elf Concealer Brush.

For my brows, I would first give them a quick brush with my MUA Brow Brush to make sure there isn't any foundation trapped there, then I would apply my Bobbi Brown Natural Brow Shaper + Hair Touch Upin Blonde. Hayden has perfectly trimmed and shaped eyebrows and this product will keep mine in place for hours.

So so so so thrilled with this absolutely beautiful shade! This is the first one of these cream eyeshadows that doesn't have any shimmer yet it is still as wonderful! I have been using this everyday since I purchased it; I apply it with a flat eyeshadow brush at an angle to the outer corner of the lid, then take my Mac217 and blend inwards. It works like magic and I adore the effect. I also use it with the same flat brush to run under the eye if I'm wanting a bit more definition. This is my favourite beauty product of 2013 so far! I don't think I can gush about this much more - just go out and buy it!

Monday, 28 January 2013

Finally! They have arrived! I've been lusting after these for the past few months and have been reading so many beauty gurus blog post reviews on them - the gurus who are more well known and thus got free samples ahead of the release date that is! Jealous!

Anyway, when I went to Boots for these a few days ago, the majority of them were sold out. I was stunned but so happy to find this one at the very back of the shelf. It is the shade I was originally wanting the most and now I have it!

I really like that there is always an offer on at drugstore cosmetic counters and I recently got a 3 for 2 on Rimmel. The main item I was after is their new fantastic Apocolips (which I will cover in a separate post) but I also wanted to try some other items.

I thought I would do a post letting you all know what my usual, everyday makeup routine is. I know it does look like a lot of makeup for a casual, easy look but it all comes together nicely. This look can easily take you from daytime into the evening without much more to be added.

I am putting my list in order of what I use for each step and the tool I use it with.

I really feel that looking after my skin is much more of an adventure than trying new makeup. For what is the point in spending hundreds on a fantastic array of cosmetics if you don't have an even, flawless complexion to apply it onto?

As most of my followers now know, I've recently been battling bad acne and, thankfully, I defiantly am winning the war! I have been changing up my skincare routine around every 6-8 weeks as I feel there is still more for me to discover with regards to great treatment lotions. The latest for me is the now infamous Effaclar Duo moisturiser by La Roche-Posay. I had first heard bout this from the lovely Ruth at her A Model Recommends website; she had been raving about this super skincare product which she had used to bring her skin back to the best possible condition it could be. Once she recommended it, many other beauty gurus also went out and purchased this supposed genius of a moisturiser - all of them loved it.

Tuesday, 22 January 2013

Good old Soap and Glory have done it again. They have managed to produce a great set of lipsticks which are in league with the fabulous quality of their other products. This one was made to work alongside my Rimmel Lip liner in East End Snob! Everything about this is perfect, from the cool packaging to the actual shade - this is a dream product.

Sunday, 20 January 2013

Finally! I had been lusting after this beauty for absolute ages and now I have it! The legend that is KarlLagerfeld has done a collaboration with the brand Shu Uemura to create a line of cosmetics and accessories. As Shu Uemura are the Kings of lash curlers, the main item for me to get from said collection was this one. I LOVE these lash curlers so much. Along with the classic Shu design, there is a bright red cushion strip on the curler and with an absolutely adorable little trinket of a cartoon girl dangling from the handle; I think these are really cool. Performance wise, well, what do you expect from the greatest? Haha. They effortlessly curl my lashes and make my eyes look wide open and then, with some waterproof mascara applied afterwards, I end up with a really striking makeup look. (As you can see from my top picture, when they arrived I practically tore the box open and had to try them immediately, so please ignore the smudged brown mascara line!). These cost £20 and are limited edition*

As I am progressing with my beauty blog adventure, my makeup collection is growing and growing. With that is the need for some more storage, so I ordered another little Muji Acrylic 2 Drawer container and had it delivered a few days ago. I am obsessed with organising things - even my spices for cooking are in a great order - so it's no wonder that I really adore organising my makeup.

I got this upon the recommendation of one of my favourite YouTube Beauty girls, Hannah from hannahgeorgina24. I had been trying to find a good lip liner for a while now as was coming to a constant dead end with regards to getting the right shade. I now know that my problem is that I have a very strange view of what colour I think my lips actually are! I had be trying liners that were way too dark for my lips and always steered away from the lighter pink ones as I though they wouldn't suit! Boy, how wrong was I?

This Rimmel liner is the PERFECT shade for my lips. It is such a good match to my natural colour that I have found that I can wear it on its own and without any lipstick! This is one of those wind-up liners, which is great as you never need to sharpen them and this has just a great overall quality with its pigmentation and lasting power. I'm in love! And it only cost about £3.99! Thank you Hannah G!

Recently, I've seen quite a lot of TopShops cosmetics being used in Pixiwoo's YouTube videos and both the sisters rave about the brand. I do love TopShops clothing - although it is becoming a tad too expensive in my opinion - so I wanted to get in on the action with regards to their makeup. I did see a lovely highlighter powder but they only had a sample of it in store so I opted for these cream eyeshadow crayons instead. Ever since I discovered my beloved Maybelline Colour Tattoos I have as yet to come across anything - high end or drug store - that parallels in the quality. These almost make the cut but not quite.

Don't you find that every time you go to Boots these days you end up with so many No.7 vouchers? I have a bunch in my purse now so I thought I would get a few new things from the brand. The first thing I got was this eyeliner. The colour is what stood out to me the most, it is a very unusual brown shade - like a golden dark taupe even - and it has lots of shimmer and warm golden undertones. The applicator is very very thin which is perfect of you need precision when applying and the pigmentation is on the medium scale. The only problem I have with this is that I needed to put on like 4 coats to get a decent line of colour, so if you're in a rush then I wouldn't try to use this. However, once it is on it lasts for ages and really is quite striking. I saw an electric blue colour one as well in the store, so I might buy that with my vouchers next. This cost only £4.50 with my discount.

A girl can never have too many mascaras. That's a fact! And my collection is slowly increasing into a humongous pile which is enough to last me 5 years (well, that would be if they didn't dry out after 4 months!). These are the latest;

1. 'Collection' Longer Lash Waterproof Mascara in 3 Brown/Black - This is another PoundShop purchase and for a quid it really is a bargain. ***I've been trying to use more and more waterproof mascara's as I've recently learned that they have a different formula - a formula which actually keeps the curl in your lash rather than work against it like normal mascaras do! Something about water-based versus oil-based I think. This is something which is like a god send for me as I've been quite frustrated when I curl my lashes and then they just fall back into place when I add mascara but, by switching to waterproof really has helped a lot! It's one of my new favourite beauty tips so pass on the word!

This 'Collection' mascara is pretty good but isn't as 'wet' as my other ones. By "wet" I mean it doesn't seem to have much liquid on the wand once you take it out of the tube and usually my other mascaras have too much! I really like the shape of the wand - it's a classic and works the best for an everyday, natural effect makeup look.

2. Miners Lash Curl Waterproof Curl Enhancing Mascara in 02K - I had never heard of this brand before and found this in the sale section of my local pharmacy for £2. I think the packaging looks very nice and sleek and the wand of the mascara is in a curved shape. I don't believe that mascara can actually curl your lashes - thats what Shu Uemura is for - however when I tried this I was pleasantly surprised. I have been trying out more brown mascaras now than black and this one suits me pretty well. Like the other one this isn't very wet and that can give me more precision when applying as it is then buildable.

Collection 'Glam Crystals' Dazzling Gel Liner - I got this in the PoundShop for, surprisingly, £1. This is a great little novelty cosmetic which is perfect for when you are wanting a fun makeup look. A beautiful copper shade with deep red undertones, this glitter liner really works nicely against my green eyes and adds a lovely line of glamour across the top lash line.

Saturday, 19 January 2013

Finding a good quality shampoo and conditioner set is becoming more and more of a hassle these days. The vast majority of drugstore haircare brands are usually just ok, not amazing. However, when I went to Boots recently and proceeded to sniff over 20 different bottles of shampoo - I kid you not - I was stopped in my tracks by this one. From celebrity hairdresser James Brown comes his new line of products named, Photo Fabulous Volumising, and these smell out-of-this-world fabulous. Honestly, it's like nothing I've ever come across before and I've been tying in vain to figure out the best way to describe it. The best I can do is compare it to the smell of the store Lush. I'm sure many of you will now have a good idea of what I'm talking about, that very floral and somewhat sexy scent that is just so divine!

Obviously the scent isn't the be all and end all of a shampoo (although it is a major factor!), I'm so very pleased with how well this works. This has a great lather and I only need to apply it once to get squeaky clean hair. My hair is already very think but sometimes after I shampoo it it can become so so overly tangled but the conditioner in this set works wonders and leaves my locks in a much easier to handle manner. I don't know how much more volume this will add to your hair if it is very fine, however, I would urge you all to at least give this one a go. It's up there with some of the more luxurious brands in its quality and performance.

Wednesday, 9 January 2013

I got this in HMV on sale for only £7! It is such a great coffee table book that it should cost way way more than it did. Here are some of the wonderful images from this book. Don't you just love the 1950s pin-up girls? They were so glamourous and feminine - a stark contrast to what 'glamour' models do these days, that's for sure. Perfect nostalgia.

I've been wanting some products from Nicola Roberts' cosmetics line for ages now and a few days ago, I finally took the jump and got my first item. A girl can never have too many blushers and the Dainty Doll Blusher in 004 You Are My Sunshine is just gorgeous. A lovely warm peachy pink shade of powder blush, this has the most wonderful gold shimmer undertones which add so much warmth and health to my cheeks. This seems to be a dupe of the uber famous NarsOrgasm yet at £13, is much cheaper. You can tell that a lot of time was spent on perfecting these cosmetics to make them the best standard possible - with regards to the pricing - and it has defiantly payed off. My pictures do not do this blusher justice, so I urge you all to run to Boots and swatch this on your hand. You will be as amazed as I was. Lovely.

Since I was so impressed with the Real Techniques Stippling Brush, I decided to add more to my collection. I had heard amazing things about the Buffing Brush, so was excited to buy these in Boots. This costs £21.99, which is amazing value as you get four brushes and the case it comes with - which doubles as a brush stand! I have been trying these brushes for a few days now and these are my thoughts on them;

I have already been nominated for the Liebster Award and have chosen my 11 nominees and followed all the rules. However, since I nominated Jenny from Jeneral Rambling and seen how well she answered my 11 questions, I thought I would answer hers anyway. I know that's not in the rules but it's only for fun and I really like doing these Q+A posts.

Jenny's Questions1. Who is your favourite band or musician?

Without a doubt, it would have to be Radiohead. They are one of the greatest experimental bands of all time and their songs are so powerful and magical! They are an acquired taste as a lot of people find them depressing but I can see the beauty in their sound.

Monday, 7 January 2013

This is the first non-black mascara I've ever owned. I saw a video Lisa Eldridge did on one of her models where she used a cranberry shade mascara and I was intrigued to see if it would work on me. So far I've only come across a blue colour - with the exception of some very expensive coloured ones from luxury brands - so I bought this for only £1.99 as I didn't think it was right to spend more than what I would on a regular mascara;

After searching far and wide for some good quality eyeliners, I have been so overjoyed with finding these! I got the first one online from Amazon for around £3 and when it was delivered and I tried it on the back of my hand to swatch it...well...it was amazing. It slides on as smooth as butter and is one of the most pigmented products I've ever come across. These are far better than any Mac or Urban Decay liners and are highly under appreciated within the beauty world. There is only a small selection of colours available online, so I got two more to add to the collection. All I'm after now is their black shade and then I'm complete! Coming in either metallic or 'matte' tones, I have these in the following colours;

Saturday, 5 January 2013

Does anyone know who this gorgeous girl is? I know I've seen her before many times but I cannot remember her name! She is so beautiful and in this picture, looks oh so pretty and feminine. I love how it's her blusher which is the main focus of this beauty image, it just shows you that a "pop" of a nice pink/peach blush can make you look so fresh and healthy looking. Never underestimate the power of blusher! xoxo

These are the other polishes my mother bought me. I had told her how much I was loving Revlon as a brand, so she remembered and got me these to try. I am her free at-home manicurist at the best of times and I have a funny feeling she got the green shade for herself really! (Green is her favourite colour after all) I really like the purple one as it has burgundy/maroon undertones, so it is quite dramatic. Also, I notice the bottles say this is a "matte suede" polish which is exciting as it will give my nails a different finish. Both are lovely to add to my collection.

Friday, 4 January 2013

Another polish! Blame my mother! Haha. She kindly bought me a few polishes today and said, "sure you can add these to your little blog". Bless her!

This is a lovely mint green polish from Rimmel. This one is different as it has a maxi brush applicator - something I've never seen before in a polish - and I adore it! I wish all polishes came with big thick brushes like this one - it makes painting your nails so quick and easy. Love love love.

It has been well documented here that over the last few months I've had probably one of the worst acne breakouts in my life! I'm still not 100% sure why it happened or how (so far I think a mixture of stress from stopping smoking and some new face products which disagreed with my skin are to blame) but thankfully I can say that it looks like my skin is starting to get back to normal! Yay!

This is my first ever Illamasqua purchase! Tis' unbelievable that I haven't got anything from this brand in my collection until now. I am saving up to try their foundation in the very light shade as I've heard good things from the beauty blogging world about it. As I'm sure you all know my love for the MaybellineColour Tattoos is immense and so I decided to go up a notch and try a luxury version of this cream eyeshadow. I was browsing the sales and came across Illamasqua and my eyes instantly set on this product. The colour just spoke to me, it was so beautiful and unique and I knew it was coming home with me! I was also pleasantly surprised to see it was reduced from £17.50 to £10, so I knew I was getting a good deal.

As much as I love Rimmel products, I had never rated their foundations - mainly because they were far too dark for my porcelain skin. However, going on the recommendation of my fellow beauty blogger Jenny via her 'jeneral rambling' blog here - in which she informed me that the brand have released a really pale shade of their new foundation - I decided to give it a go. And I'm happy I did! I only payed £4 for this as it was on offer (usually it is around £6.99) and I'm so pleased at how much of a bargain this cosmetic is.